Introduction
The Requirement:
As stated in the Boy Scout Handbook, Eagle Scout Requirement 5: While a
Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project
helpful to your religious institution, school, or your community. The project
must benefit an organization other than the BSA. The project idea must be
approved by the organization benefiting from the effort, your unit leader
(Scoutmaster, Varsity Scout Coach, Venture Crew Advisor), unit committee,
and by the council advancement committee before you start. You must
use the Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook, No. 18-927D, in meeting
this requirement. (This is available at the Scout Service Center or
download it here)
There are three very important things to note in the first sentence of this
requirement that apply to selecting a project:
1. The project is to be done while you are a Life Scout.
You are considered a Life Scout the day you successfully complete your Board
of Review. This means that if you are still a Star Scout, you should
focus on your merit badges and other things, and don't put yourself in the
position of having to explain why you worked on the project prematurely. It
is all right to look ahead and identify opportunities that might become available
after your Life Scout board of review. However, never begin planning or executing
your project prior to achieving Life rank.
2. Note that the service project is to be "...helpful
to any religious institution, any school, or your community...", which means
you need to be discerning while selecting a project. You are looking for a
project to do for an organization that is non-profit, meaning they provide
services to the community at large for purposes other than making a profit.
No projects are allowed for profit-making organizations. But keep in
mind that planning and developing a project requires the Scout to inject his
ideas on how the end result will be accomplished. If the entity the project
serves knows exactly what it wants and how it must be done, and has its own
personnel on site to execute the project, the Scout simply becomes a labor
foreman. This is unacceptable. It is imperative that the entity being
served understand this requirement and not recruit eagle projects merely as
an available labor pool.
3. “ Give Leadership”….. A couple of years ago,
the title of the Eagle Scout Service Project was changed to the Eagle Scout
Leadership Service Project. As stated in the BSA Project Workbook, the real
purpose of the Eagle Project is to give you an opportunity to “demonstrate
leadership of others.” This is not to say that service to the community is
not important, just that leadership is equally important. The requirements
of planning and developing a project require the Scout to render more than
a routine service. Leadership is a very rewarding activity. As the
leader, you should feel a sense of pride for what your team accomplished
under your guidance. A well-led activity is also rewarding for those
who follow. In the end, the goal is reached and the team feels good
about their collective accomplishment. The leadership skills you have
learned in Scouting and demonstrated in completing your Eagle Project will
serve you throughout your life.
Project Guidelines:
These guidelines are exactly that: guidelines. They are designed to
help you assess projects in a variety of ways, on a variety of levels.
Their basic theme is to determine whether there is sufficient leadership being
exercised. Many portions of BSA national policy are written in such
a way that there can be variances in the local interpretations and execution.
But in general, your Board of Review will be looking at the following characteristics
of the project:
1. Leadership: How do you demonstrate leadership
of others? A good question to ask is, “Could the project succeed without
the Scout’s presence?” You need to establish yourself as the man
in charge, the one who others look to for guidance. This means you must take
the initiative to chose your project, coordinate it with the appropriate agency,
and prepare the detail plan on how to accomplish the goal. The leader
is the problem solver. No matter how well a project is planned, there will
be things that don’t go according to plan. When problems arise, the project
leader must consider all available information and make a decision on how
to resolve that problem. If it is not safe or practical to force the project
to follow the plan, he may need to revise the plan, or even redefine the
final goals. It is ok if your project doesn’t reach all the original goals,
but you need to be able to explain why and how you solved the problem.
However, be careful that the well-meaning adults don’t lead your project.
A good leader will consider advice and suggestions from others, but in the
end, the leader must make the final decisions. A wise Scout would listen to
his troop’s adult leaders and parents because they have many years of experience
to share. Beware of a common problem which can easily hamper your chance
to lead. During projects where an adult's technical skill is required, the
adults often tend take over the leadership role. Both you and your adult technical
advisor should be very aware that YOU must lead the project. Your advisor
should only give you guidance and suggestions, but he should not give direct
instructions to your work crew. That would deny you your leadership opportunity.
2. Planning: A “plan” presupposes some complexity:
one need not do much planning for a simple maintenance task or a routine activity,
such as painting a hallway or trimming shrubs. In this regard, the question
to be asked is, Does the entity plan to conduct the proposed maintenance
even if the Scout doesn’t do it as a project? If the Scout finds that the
answer to this question is “yes,” then it would not qualify as an Eagle project.
3. Originality: Does the leadership service project
for Eagle have to be original, perhaps something you dream up that has never
been done before? The answer: No, but it certainly could be. You may pick
a project that has been done before, but you must accept responsibility for
planning, directing, and following through to its successful completion.
4. Limitations: Routine labor (a job or service
normally rendered) should not be considered. Work involving council property
or other BSA activity is not permitted. The project also may not be performed
for a business or an individual, be of a commercial nature, or be a fund-raiser.
Fund-raising is permitted only for securing materials or supplies needed to
carry out your project
5. Size: How big a project is required? There are
no specific requirements, as long as the project is helpful to a religious
institution, school, or community. The amount of time spent by you in planning
your project and the actual working time spent in carrying out the project
should be as much as is necessary for you to demonstrate your leadership of
others.
A Word about Collection drives...
The problem with blood drives is, as one Scouter has said, "my secretary can
organize a blood drive in 5 minutes - call the blood bank, arrange a date,
and they'll provide posters and show up with a crew. How does that show leadership?"
Good question, and not one you want to try to justify in front of your board
of review. Blood drives, and other collection drives, can be worthy
service projects, but you have to be careful to plan them to meet the expectations
for an Eagle Scout Leadership Service project. You will want to do
a project that requires a number of volunteers who will carry out the project
under your leadership. One way to make this work is to scale up the project.
Set an ambitious goal, above and beyond the typical drive. For example,
organize more than one drive at different locations. Plan a series
of informational meetings at different institutions to ensure larger turnouts.
You'll need volunteers to help promoting the project, processing the crowds,
etc. You may have to coordinate more than one collecting crew. You get the
idea - if you do an ordinary, easy collecting drive of some sort, you are
certainly providing a service, but can you explain to your board of review
how you demonstrated Eagle-quality leadership? Scale up the project so that
they can see what kind of leader you are.) (Note: This applies generally
to all kinds of drives.... Clothing drives, donation drives, etc.)
What not to do:
· Don’t wait until the last minute! The Eagle
Boards of Review and deadlines for paperwork submittal are scheduled once
a month and are posted on the Council’s calendar.
· Begin projects prior to achieving Life Rank or
ending after your Eagle Board of Review
· Work on your project prior to getting all approvals,
including the Council’s Eagle Board of Review Committee.
· Any projects for the benefit of the Boy Scouts
of America, including troop or council property
· Any project that another Scout is using for his
Eagle project. The Eagle Scout service project is an individual matter;
therefore, two Eagle Scout candidates may not receive credit for working on
the same project.
· Projects involving only routine labor normally
done by paid staff.
· Any project for profit-making organizations.
For example, painting the clubhouse for a home-owners association, installing
curb reflectors in a store's parking lot, doing landscaping for a local business,
etc.
What to do:
· Submit your project for approval no later than
6 months before your 18th birthday.
· Consult with local Scouting leadership, starting
with your unit, when selecting a project
· Choose a project you will be proud of for the
rest of your life
· Do a project that really stretches you
· Start documenting from day one (you will use
this info for your final report)
· Keep a log of the hours you put into your search
for a project
Procedure
Project Development and Approval:
1. Plan the Project
1.1. The Scout should take the initiative to come up with
a project plan. The project plan may be typed on computer or it may
be hand written, but it must be neat. The plan should tell someone else
everything they would need to know to carryout your project without you present.
If the project involves building something, then you must include detail
plans or drawings and a list of materials required. Photographs may also
be of value here for some projects.
1.2. You may use an electronic version of the workbook.
Either the PDF (Acrobat Reader) or RTF (Rich Text Format) versions of the
Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook are available for downloading.
The RTF version may be opened using various word processing software, including
Microsoft Word. The PDF version may only be printed, but not directly edited
on your computer.
Note: Tthe PVC Eagle Scout Service Project approval sheet is
no longer to be used. Only the national Workbook is required.
2. Obtain Project Approval
2.1. Prior to beginning the project, the candidate shall
completely fill in the applicable portions of the Leadership Service Project
Workbook and obtain project plan approvals (signature and date) from the representative
of the organization benefiting from the project, his Scoutmaster / Coach
/ Advisor, and Unit Committee Member.
Note: The Scout and his leaders should not assume that the unit’s
and entity’s endorsement guarantees project approval. It is very important
that you do not proceed with any of the project until the PVC Eagle Board,
on behalf of the Advancement Committee has approved the project.
2.2. The project is now ready to turn in to the PVC Council
Registrar for approval to proceed. You should keep a photocopy of the
project, exactly as turned in to the Registrar, in case it is lost during
the approval cycle. The Registrar will co-ordinate with the Council
Eagle Board of Review Committee and notify the Scout of the time and place
where he will meet with the Board to present his project in person.
Typically this will be at the next scheduled meeting of the Eagle Review Board
which is held on the second Tuesday of the month at the City Hall in Springfield.
The dates are listed in the Council calendar.
Note: Projects need to be turned into the Registrar no later than
the Friday before the scheduled meeting in order to be reviewed that month.
2.3. At the meeting, the Scout shall appear before the
Committee in full uniform and be prepared to answer any questions the members
of the board may have. If the Committee finds the project acceptable,
the original copy of the Scout’s Service Project Workbook will be signed and
returned to the scout and work on it may begin immediately. In some
circumstances, the Committee may ask the scout to revise the project or provide
additional information before final approval is given. In those cases,
the Scout will be invited to appear before the board again at the following
month’s meeting.
Note: Because there may be up to a month’s delay in the granting of
final approval, and to allow sufficient time to properly carry out the work,
it is imperative that unit leaders encourage scouts to submit their Eagle
projects for consideration no later than 6 months prior to their 18th birthday.
3. Work the Project
3.1. Now that the hard part is over, you can begin the
fun part -- working the project! It is important that you keep very
good notes about everything that is done. Keep lists of all work done, who
does the work, and how much time they each spent. For your final report, you
will need to discuss how well the plan worked and all areas where you were
not able to follow the plan, so keep good track of this information as you
go along. Take pictures of each stage of the work. These will be included
in the final report and will be a nice souvenir of an important milestone
in your life. Keep track of all materials, supplies, tools, etc. used, paying
particular attention to any differences from you original plan.
3.2. If there are any last-minute changes to the original
project, those changes must be noted along with the reason for the modification.
If, for some reason, you are not able to carry out the project that you planned
originally, you may have to start the process over again. This means that
a new project plan, approvals, etc., may have to be obtained. Discuss the
situation with your unit leader, Council Advancement Chairman or Council Eagle
Board Chairman.
3.3. Your project must be completed before your 18th birthday;
in fact, it must be completed in time for you to hold your Eagle Scoutmaster's
Conference before your 18th birthday. Make sure that the representative
of the organization benefiting from your project and your unit leader verifies
completion of your project by signing page eight of the Eagle Scout Service
Project Workbook along with your signature. Record the date on which
you completed your project on your Eagle Scout Rank Application.
Note: Although the project concept was approved before work began,
the Eagle Board of Review process will determine the manner in which the project
was carried out. It should not be assumed that the pre-approval of
the project means that the Board will automatically approve the way the project
was carried out and could in fact be reason to deny the awarding of the Eagle
rank.
4. Final Write-up
4.1. Once you have completed the project, you must prepare
a final written report describing all phases (from planning to completion)
of your project. This information is entered in the last section of
the Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook. In the 'Carrying
Out the Project' workbook section, briefly describe what was done and how
you deviated from the plan. Go through each section of the plan and write
a summary of the results versus the plan.. Summarize the actual costs, tools
used, or anything else of interest. Provide a record of all the time
worked by you and your volunteers. This can be done in a list or table showing
names, dates, hours worked, and tasks performed by each volunteer. Since the
objective of the project is to demonstrate leadership of others, you should
discuss your leadership roll.
4.2. Hopefully, you took many photographs during each
phase of the project. Include a section in your report for representative
photographs. A photo of you presenting the finished product to the organization
for whom you did the work helps show off the value of the project.
Any pictures, letters of approval or commendations, newspaper clippings,
etc., should be included in your report.
Note: Be prepared to discuss questions at your Board of Review such
as how you demonstrated leadership, how the work was performed, how the project
benefited the organization or community, and how the plan was followed.
Your report is submitted concurrently with your Eagle Application.
Eagle Board of Review:
1. Unit Review
1.1. When all the requirements except the board of review
for the rank of Eagle, including the service project, have been completed,
an Eagle Scout Rank Application must be filled out and sent to the council
service center promptly. The Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook, properly
filled out, must be submitted with the application. It is imperative
that all requirements for the Eagle Scout rank including Scoutmaster’s Conference,
the project and the final write-up, be completed prior to the candidate's
18th birthday.
1.2. The application should be signed by the unit leader
at the proper place. The unit committee reviews and approves the record the
record of the Eagle candidate before the application is submitted to the local
council. If a unit leader or unit committee chooses not to sign or
otherwise approve an application, the Eagle candidate may still be granted
a board of review. The failure of the unit leader or unit committee to sign
an application may be considered by the board of review in determining the
qualifications of the Eagle candidate.
2. Council Verification of Factual Material
2.1. The council office shall verify the candidate's registration
and the accuracy of dates provided on the application. In the event of errors
or discrepancies, the registrar shall contact the candidate and/or his unit
to verify the information or make appropriate corrections. The council
may contact the references provided by the candidate. Only after verification
of the information on the application will the candidate be contacted in writing
by the council office with and a date and time for the board.
2.2. After the contents of an application have been verified
and appropriately signed, the application and Eagle Scout Service Project
Workbook, will be forwarded from the registrar to the chairman of the Eagle
Board of Review Committee so that a board of review may be scheduled.
Note: Like the project submittals, Eagle applications need to be turned
into Council Service Center no later than the Friday before the monthly scheduled
meeting in order to allow sufficient time for the registrar to verify the
material and allow the Committee Chairman to schedule the necessary boards.
3. Board of Review
3.1. All boards shall be conducted in accordance with
the standards and procedures required by the National Council, BSA.
“The 12 Steps from Life to Eagle” summarize the procedure and can be found
on the back page of the Project Workbook
3.2. Pioneer Valley Council holds regularly scheduled
Eagle Boards of Review on the second Tuesday of each month at the Springfield
City Hall starting at 7:00 PM. The actual dates can be found in the
Council Calendar.
3.3. Scouts must appear before the board in full uniform.